China's auditors help recover 94 bln yuan of illegally taken public funds

BEIJING, June 23 (Xinhua) -- More than 94.116 billion yuan (13.82 billion U.S. dollars) illegally taken from public funds last year had been recovered or returned, the national chief auditor Liu Jiayi said Wednesday.

Liu, Auditor-General of China's National Audit Office, made the statement in a report submitted to the 15th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

More than 790 people had been punished in connection with the cases, said Liu.

"Most of the cases occurred in the process of project approval, decision making, granting loans, and public bidding and tender in financial transactions, transfer of state assets and management of land and mineral resources," Liu said.

"People are using more professional and intelligent ways to seek illegal gains," he said.

Transferring funds through online banking, cheating in loans or manipulating stocks using inside information or expertise were among means to attain illegal profits, said Liu.

"Such cases are usually hard to investigate and involve large sums," he said.

In one of the most serious cases, Li Shuyan and Li Shujun, executives of Jiufeng Liquor Co. Ltd., in northeast China's Jilin Province, colluded with employees of a local branch of the Agricultural Development Bank of China to fraudulently obtain loans worth 266 million yuan, said Liu.

Chinese men´s national team continued its preparations for next year´s Asian Cup, as they managed a one-all draw against visitors Jordan during a football friendly in Harbin, the capital city of Northeast China´s Heilongjiang Province.China held to 1-1 draw by Jordan

Across the UK the hunt is on for James Foley’s killer, who authorities believe is a British national. As Richard Bestic reports from London, Prime Minister David Cameron cut short his summer break to lead his government’s response.

As the protests in the town of Ferguson, Missouri turned violent with police facing ´heavy gunfire´ from some ´criminal elements´, cops fired tear gas, stun grenades and arrested 31 demonstrators on Monday night.